Minne Fekkes

Research from JAMA Pediatrics — Effects of Antibullying School Program on Bullying and Health Complaints

OBJECTIVES. A number of studies have shown that victimization from bullying behavior is associated with substantial adverse effects on physical and psychological health, but it is unclear which comes first, the victimization or the health-related symptoms. In our present study, we investigated whether victimization precedes psychosomatic and psychosocial symptoms or whether these symptoms precede victimization.DESIGN. Six-month cohort study with baseline measurements taken in the fall of 1999 and follow-up measurements in the spring of 2000.SETTING. Eighteen elementary schools in the Netherlands.PARTICIPANTS. The study included 1118 children aged 9 to 11 years, who participated by filling out a questionnaire on both occasions of data collection.OUTCOME MEASURES. A self-administered questionnaire measured victimization from bullying, as well as a wide variety of psychosocial and psychosomatic symptoms, including depression, anxiety, bedwetting, headaches, sleeping problems, abdominal pain, poor appetite, and feelings of tension or tiredness.RESULTS. Victims of bullying had significantly higher chances of developing new psychosomatic and psychosocial problems compared with children who were not bullied. In contrast, some psychosocial, but not physical, health symptoms preceded bullying victimization. Children with depressive symptoms had a significantly higher chance of being newly victimized, as did children with anxiety.CONCLUSIONS. Many psychosomatic and psychosocial health problems follow an episode of bullying victimization. These findings stress the importance for doctors and health practitioners to establish whether bullying plays a contributing role in the etiology of such symptoms. Furthermore, our results indicate that children with depressive symptoms and anxiety are at increased risk of being victimized. Because victimization could have an adverse effect on children's attempts to cope with depression or anxiety, it is important to consider teaching these children skills that could make them less vulnerable to bullying behavior.

Bullying victimization is associated with several health issues. Prevention of bullying is therefore an important goal for health and education professionals. In the present study, 2766 children from 32 Dutch elementary schools participated by completing a questionnaire on bullying behavior, and the involvement of teachers, parents and classmates in bullying incidents. The results of this study show that bullying is still prevalent in Dutch schools. More than 16% of the children aged 9–11 years reported being bullied on a regular basis and 5.5% reported regular active bullying during the current school term. Almost half of the bullied children did not tell their teacher that they were being bullied. When teachers knew about the bullying, they often tried to stop it, but in many cases the bullying stayed the same or even got worse. With regard to active bullying, neither the majority of the teachers nor parents talked to the bullies about their behavior. Our results stress the importance of regular communication between children, parents, teachers and health care professionals with regard to bullying incidents. In addition, teachers need to learn effective ways to deal with bullying incidents. Schools need to adopt a whole-school approach with their anti-bullying interventions.

BACKGROUND: Specific subgroups of people planning IVF might be at risk of having more psychological or health‐related problems. Identification of subgroups at risk may better enable allocation of appropriate counselling. METHODS: A group of 425 men and 447 women planning to undergo IVF treatment filled out a questionnaire. Four domains of health‐related quality of life were measured, namely perceived emotional, physical, cognitive and social functioning. RESULTS: Young men and women (aged 21–30 years) planning IVF had more short‐term social and emotional problems than people of the same age group in the general population. No substantial differences were found in cognitive and physical functioning for all age groups of men nor women planning IVF compared with the general population. A high level of irrational parenthood cognitions substantially accounted for a less optimal score on all the different domains of quality of life. These cognitions (‘needing a child in order to live a happy life’) were especially prevalent among younger women. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with high levels of irrational parenthood cognitions are at risk of a less optimal quality of life. A short cognitive counselling therapy is advised for patients with high levels of these cognitions.

The 43-item TNO-AZL Preschool Children Quality of Life (TAPQOL) questionnaire was developed to meet the need for a reliable and valid instrument for measuring parent's perceptions of health-related...